The present disclosure relates to a high speed rotary wing aircraft, and more particularly, to the configuration of an engine inlet for a high speed rotary wing aircraft capable of traveling at speeds in excess of 200 nautical miles per hour.
An engine inlet on an aircraft is responsible for capturing a specified amount of air and transferring it to the engine where it is mixed with fuel and combusted to create the necessary power to operate the corresponding drive components associated therewith. Traditional vertical take-off and landing aircraft typically have engine inlets sized for maximum performance during take-off and hover operations which require a greater amount of air. This approach has been acceptable for conventional aircrafts due to the small difference in inlet velocity when the aircraft is in hover vs. cruising flight. However, recent advances in technology have enabled vertical take-off and landing aircraft to achieve greater speeds, and the fixed area engine inlet design has negative impacts on vehicle performance, particularly drag.